Lead Software Engineer

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We Power the Magic!? That?s our motto at Disney Experiences (DX). Our team creates world-class immersive digital experiences for the Company?s premier vacation brands including Disney?s Parks & Resorts worldwide, Disney Cruise Line, Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, and Disney Vacation Club.??

We are responsible for the end-to-end digital and physical Guest experience for all technology & digital-led initiatives across the Attractions & Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Resorts & Transportation and Merchandise lines of business as well as other initiatives including My Disney Experience  and Hey, Disney!?

This role sits in the Retail, Restaurant & Supply Chain Technology organization within Technology & Digital for Disney Experiences. It works closely with a diverse team of engineers, business stakeholders, and service owners from across the company.
The Lead Software Engineer will report to the Manager, Software Engineering.

• Lead and personally build (hands-on coding expected) scalable, well-documented software systems, applications, APIs, and RESTful services ? from technical specs through delivery ? using Java, AWS/cloud-native patterns, relational and No
  
  SQL databases, messaging, and orchestration technologies.

• Champion AI-driven development and architecture, embedding AI-powered tools (Git Hub Copilot, Cursor, Amazon Q, Claude, Kiro) across the software lifecycle ? from design and coding to testing and troubleshooting ? to accelerate delivery and elevate quality, while shaping how the team adopts AI in its engineering practices.

• Set architectural direction by translating complex functional, technical, and business requirements into solution architecture, coordinating with Architecture and IT stakeholders, evaluating technology choices (software, hardware, SaaS/PaaS), and developing proof-of-concepts and roadmaps that align applications with reference architecture.

• Own dining and bookable experience reservation systems, maintaining deep expertise in inventory, availability, offers, and reservations, and proactively preventing overbooking issues that could impact guests.

• Integrate and support complex systems across databases, messaging, and orchestration platforms, and manage AWS infrastructure to keep production and lower environments reliable.

• Drive engineering quality and continuous improvement through code and design reviews, automated testing, end-to-end troubleshooting and root-cause analysis, and proactive recommendations to processes, technologies, and coding practices ? maintaining focus and sound judgment in a dynamic, fast-paced, cross-functional environment.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with product owners, engineering partners, delivery managers, business analysts, and other architecture teams to align solutions with current and future business needs, estimate delivery, and communicate the team’s value.

• 7 years of experience building large-scale software systems and web applications, leading engineering teams and projects, with hands-on experience in solution and application architecture.

• Expertise with enterprise architecture repository tools (e.g., tools similar to Blue Dolphin or LeanIX)

• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-domain architectural initiatives and guide decision processes

• Experience developing and managing architecture taxonomies, patterns, and standards.

• Proven ability to align architecture with strategic objectives, OKRs, and scorecards.

• Hands-on familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform), API-led integration, security-by-design, and data architecture principles.

• Strong hands-on skills in Java 21 , Spring, microservices, and RESTful APIs.

• Deep experience with AWS,…